New gene drive technology carries hope and risk

Caroline Davis2010 / Flickr

By Yasemin SaplakogluFeb. 19, 2017 , 12:15 PM

Q: Should we be looking at how the environment might be affected by gene drives?

A: Absolutely, this is a manipulation of nature. We dont know how it would affect population dynamics and ecosystems. In some cases, the purpose of gene drives would be to reduce population sizes of an organism, which could influence processes like pollination and transmission of parasites. In other cases, we would use gene drives to weed out disease by driving the population that carries that disease to extinction.

Q: What is the worst-case scenario of releasing these organisms?

A: Eliminating an organism or reducing its numbers greatly. By eliminating one plant species, you cause the proliferation of others, and this leads to a series of changes in the ecosystem. We need to understand the system well enough so that we can take ethical concerns into account as we make decisions.

Evolutionary ecologist James Collins

Charles Kazilek

Q: Who gets to make these decisions?

A:Social scientists are trying to come up with better ways to sample human populations to get a better sense of whats tolerable and whats not tolerable in terms of their release. . If you release [modified mosquitoes] in Town A, the mosquitoes may not have any problem flying to Town B, even though Town B is not interested in having them. Theyll go anyway.

A:The advantage of these other technologies is that they are effective only as long as youre releasing modified male mosquitoes. When you stop the manipulation, the population would bounce back to normal levels. You have a control over the system that is yet to be demonstrated for gene drives where once you alter the genes in these populations, they just keep changing.

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New gene drive technology could wipe out malaria, but is it safe? - Science Magazine